


Storytime and fall

by thewaterflowing



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, i tried™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 14:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10023896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewaterflowing/pseuds/thewaterflowing
Summary: In which Noora is a famous singer, Eva is her childhood best friend whom she hasn’t seen in six years and who finds herself needing a pretend girlfriend for a minute, then things happen.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [losingurshit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/losingurshit/gifts).



> The title is from the song “she” by dodie clark, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the fic anymore, it was supposed to, it stayed the name of the file for over a month so it felt weird to me to change it heh.  
> A lil’ disclaimer: bear in mind that at no moment do i pretend to know anything, overall but especially management wise in the music industry, maybe if i hadn’t been a major procrastinator i would’ve looked into things more, but i am, so i didn’t, soz.  
> I have plenty of doubts about this fic and about myself writing it, but the goal being to have people read it and hopefully enjoy it, I’m not going to list them aha. I really hope you like it :D

He quickly tapped the microphone several times not only to make sure that it worked, but also to catch the audience’s attention and ask them for silence. Unfortunately, his taps had been pretty discreet and had been drowned into the chatters. He liked how his bar was a place for sociability, for friends to get together and just talk about whatever. He truly enjoyed the sight and the sound of such a busy human activity in a place that was his, a place he had worked really hard for. But now wasn’t the time. Now, it was time to be quiet. Indeed, it was time for the surprise he had waited to announce for days, but he had kept the surprise absolutely complete and unknown, (even himself forgetting about it from time to time and being thrown off every time he’d remembered), so people who happened to be present at this moment, were truly lucky. He was excited and incredibly happy about it.

 

“Please, can I ask you all to be quiet, we have a special guest tonight at the Bros n’ Shows.” Sometimes, more often than not, he regretted giving his bar that name when he had created it a few years ago. But still, his initial strategy was to have a name that would easily be remembered, and it was the case. He heard the audience slowly coming to the end of their conversations and eventually, he felt their wondering gaze on him. In the crowd, he could recognize some of the bar’s regulars, but also some faces he hadn’t seen in a while and he was both taken aback and pleasantly surprised. “Without further ado, please welcome on our stage, back from the final Spanish stage of her European tour, the amazing Noora Sætre!!”

 

As he had expected, the crowd started cheering and clapping loudly, completely losing it. Noora was from Norway, she was like most of the people in the bar, a young twenty-two year old who had made it big outside the country. She was their pride, their national treasure, even. And she was there, in this small bar, on this stage. Jonas was proud he was the one allowing this to happen, he was proud of his connections and his persistent ability to keep in touch with his high school friends. Especially since one of them had become Noora Sætre’s manager and with whom he had easily negotiated for the singer to perform in his bar this night. It hadn’t been a hard negotiation since his friend was such a cool person and since a bar was the exact place where Noora had been discovered two years before: someone had filmed her, then posted the video on YouTube and it had gotten many views and a lot of attention fairly quickly. It was a sort of “going back to the beginning” kind of thing as well as a thank you to the Norwegian public. So, now, she was here in the flesh.

 

She joined him on the stage, her guitar in one hand, and a large smile on her bright red lips. She was really a beautiful sight and he could feel the audience being, just like him, in a state of utter awe, as the cheering had evolved into admiring gasps. She was wearing her Iconic Look that made her easily recognizable: bright red lipstick, turtleneck and jeans, it was a pretty random look, but she had made it her own. Jonas had seen so many people pull out the same outfit as her, clearly inspired by her style. It had become her brand. The cover of her self-titled album was basically minimalist art showing her hair, lips and turtleneck on a yellow background. Jonas really liked how aesthetically pleasing the album looked.

 

She gave him a quick hug, they had talked a bit before to set everything up and make sure her performance would go smoothly with no technical difficulties, but still, he wasn’t used to being in the arms of someone who had just toured around Europe and was scheduled to tour around North America later on. He felt important, even if he was literally in his own bar. That he owned. That could not, or barely, function without him. She eventually let go. He could feel she was shaking. Who would have thought someone who had just toured around Europe, in much bigger venues, could be shaking at the idea of performing in a bar in Oslo, Norway?

 

“The stage is all yours. Break a leg!” He said quietly before leaving said-stage and going back to his place behind the counter, ready for Noora to start singing.

 

While he had turned his back, she had gotten ready, setting the microphone to the appropriate height. (Though, they had already done that beforehand, he suspected it was for her to make herself relax by focusing on something else.) She grabbed her guitar and put the strap above her head.

 

“Hi, I’m so happy to be here with you all tonight. It is really nice to come back home and to perform in a smaller place, more intimate dare I say. This is Scars To Your Beautiful, sing if you know it.” And of course they knew it, it was the song that had started her career. Which had then become her very first single.

 

When she started singing, her attention was on her fingers and the guitar strings, she felt stressed, scared to miss the slightest note. She wondered why she had had the foolish idea of wanting to do an acoustic version of the song, playing the guitar herself when she could have easily asked one of her musicians to do it. However, when the chorus came on and she heard the crowd sing with her, she relaxed instantly, her hands having no trouble playing the melody they knew by heart. Listening to the audience singing back her lyrics was such a powerful experience; she doubted she would ever grow tired of it. She was mesmerized every single time. She especially appreciated when it was the lyrics to this song. It was so important to her and she was extremely glad people knew the words. It meant they had understood the message, and hopefully singing the song was allowing them to believe it.

 

_She has dreams to be an envy, so she's starving_

_You know, "Covergirls eat nothing."_

_She says, "Beauty is pain and there's beauty in everything."_

_"What's a little bit of hunger?"_

_"I can go a little while longer," she fades away_

_She don't see her perfect, she don't understand she's worth it_

_Or that beauty goes deeper than the surface_

As she was singing that verse with her whole heart, her fingers effortlessly stroking the strings of the guitar, her eyes wandering into the crowd met the gaze of the girl she had written this song about. And she was smiling back, she had always known this song was for her, she had actually witnessed some of the writing and she had always felt extremely overwhelmed by the support she had received from Noora.

 

Her name was Vilde Lien and she knew Noora from university. They had only spent one year together before Noora eventually dropped out to pursue her singing career after her now well-known first gig. But they had had a complete year to bond, and it had been enough for them to become close friends. They were quite different, which hadn’t made it easy at first, but it had all worked out in the end, learning from one another. Their friendship had gotten deeper when they had finally, truthfully, opened up to each other. Noora had figured out Vilde had an eating disorder tied up to strong body image and confidence issues and she had tried to help her through that as much as she could, hence the song. And, Vilde had welcomed Noora’s first ever coming out as a lesbian with open arms and a bottle of alcohol free champagne.

 

Now, it wasn’t a secret for anyone anymore. Noora had made it pretty clear, by writing several songs, specifically about girls (more like about _a_ girl), on her album. She had been asked to definitely confirm it in an interview once, during her promotion, and she had. She had been terrified to do so, but fortunately, her manager was a friend before anything and her label was an open-minded and accepting one that didn’t want Noora to pretend she was someone else, they had all assured their support and told her, her being openly out could help other young girls. So she had. And once the words had been out of her mouth and she had seen and read people’s reactions in real life but also on the Internet, she had felt relieved and slightly more comfortable.

 

Soon after, she had realized tabloids were writing articles attributing her relationships with every single woman she happened to be photographed with. She had underestimated the fame that came with having been a viral video for weeks… With a bit of time though, she had learned to let it go, to shrug it off, but that was definitely one of the many reasons that made coming back home to Norway such a relief.

 

Her performance at the bar was to remain a rather short one; it wasn’t a proper concert, just a couple of songs for the lucky few. When she finished her last planned song, Jonas came back to the stage to thank her once again. He had stars in his eyes. He had loved every second of it, standing behind the counter, forgetting a bit that he had to serve people who came to order, focused on the singer on the stage and the effect she had on the audience. They had all been like him, fascinated.

 

She came off stage, took a couple of pictures and signed a few autographs. She felt rather comfortable among that audience, she was still careful, but she could be more outgoing with them than in other countries where she had to speak another language than her own. Okay, all her songs were in English, because she had grown feeling like it was easier talking about her feelings in that language, but still, she missed Norwegian when she was having a random conversation with strangers. So at that moment, as the excitement of her performance was starting to fade away and as she was conversing like a normal human being with people her age, her alert bodyguard standing a few meters away from her, she felt pretty good to say the least.

 

A conversation ended and she turned towards the counter to ask for any non-alcoholic cocktail Jonas could give her quickly. Seconds later, he handed her one, which she didn’t catch the name of, but she was grateful for it. It was cold and sweet, perfect to freshen up her mouth after having rambled a lot about some of the celebrities she had met in the United States. When she turned around to face the crowd and not the counter, she found herself actually facing someone she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

 

She didn’t recognize her at first, maybe it was because of the black beanie that had slid a bit too far down her forehead, maybe it was because her hair was way longer than when she had last seen her, maybe it was because their former height difference was absolutely non existent now, maybe it was just the surprise of seeing her, at last.

 

“Hi!” She simply said, she felt as though she had been kicked in the stomach, she knew exactly why and she wasn’t even surprised by it. She added with a smile: “Or H-”, but she doubted the girl had heard that last remark considering she had looked away at the exact same time.

 

“Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you, I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Eva Mohn, we were friends in primary and secondary school, and I know this is the weirdest way to reconnect, but there’s that guy that has been borderline harassing me for the entire night to get my number, despite me telling him that I was not interested, and you were the only person not in the middle of a conversation right now, so could you please pretend you’re my girlfriend just so he gets the message and leaves me alone?” After her quick monologue, she was completely out of breath and Noora was stunned.

 

She was looking at Eva, but she was rather looking right through her, lost in her own thoughts, she couldn’t believe what she had just been asked. Of course she remembered Eva, of course. They had indeed been close friends for ten years at school, but then Eva had had to move to Bergen, they had tried to keep in touch, but eventually, Noora had stopped getting replies from her friend… And now she was there, in front of her. Her features had barely changed, she looked the same.

 

Eva cleared her throat to suggest she needed an answer quickly, she was looking over her shoulder and apparently the guy was getting closer. Eventually, a guy came out of the crowd and creepily moved towards the girls. Noora pulled Eva closer, putting an arm over her shoulder and leaning on her a bit, eyebrow raised.

 

She felt Eva’s surprised eyes on her. Then, she heard her voice as she addressed the man who seemed to be about their age: “See, I told you, I’m not available.”

 

He looked at them up and down, observing them. Under the stare, Noora felt oh so uncomfortable and she didn’t like the fact that Eva had had to deal with him for longer than a second. He opened his mouth and as she didn’t particularly want to hear anything that would come out of it considering how wide his smirk was, she turned her head to silently ask her bodyguard to come closer. When he did, the guy raised his hands in a “okay okay I get it I’m leaving” kind of gesture. Not without throwing a last glance at both Noora and Eva.

 

“Gross.” She commented, a disgusted look on her face. She got her arm back, away from Eva’s shoulder, and sipped her cocktail.

 

Eva moved a few steps to stand in front of her, fixing her beanie, an apologetic look on her face. “Yeah, I know, I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I know the guy from university, but I thought he would’ve dropped it by now… But anyway thank you for doing this…”

 

Noora nodded with a slight smile, there wasn’t a lot she could respond to this. Besides, she couldn’t help but feel a hint of bitterness – even though she was trying to fight it – because of the fact that Eva had irrupted back into her life without a true acknowledgement of the “ghosting Noora” she had done.

They had spent years of their life from primary school to the end of secondary school together in Oslo. They were a pair no one could ever dream of separating, no one could come between them. It was just impossible. Until, eventually, Eva’s mom had had to move to Bergen for a promotion, they were sixteen, there was nothing they could do. And the months prior to the move had been the most heart-breaking couple of months for both of them: having to deal with that prospect constantly in the back of their mind.

They had kept in touch for a bit, engaging in conversations and keeping each other updated. At least for a while. Sooner than Noora would have thought, she found herself struggling to keep the conversation alive and getting fewer replies. Eventually, she had given up. It had now been such a long time; she feared that they had nothing in common anymore, that they were complete strangers to each other.

 

“Your songs are amazing, your live just then was wow, mind-blowing! If I had known when we were kids that you’d be such a brilliant artist…” Eva said jokingly, a light smile on her face. Her muscles were still tense, as though she didn’t know how to talk to Noora.

 

Noora’s stomach giggled from receiving such validation from Eva. It surprised her, as she wasn’t expecting these feelings to still be there after all these years. She opened her mouth to answer when she was interrupted.

 

“Hey, I didn’t know you guys knew each other!” The familiar voice came from a smaller girl, wearing a snapback as she usually did. (Between her wearing a cap and Eva her unforgettable beanie, Noora suddenly wondered if she was the only person feeling way too warm in that bar.)

 

“Wait, do you two know each other?” Both girls looked confused, but Eva was the one speaking.

 

“Yes, Chris is my manager.”

 

“Wow! Sweet!” Eva and Chris high fived, in front of Noora’s intrigued stare.

 

“Do you really think Jonas could’ve throw a Noora Sætre gig in his bar if I hadn’t been there, nope!” Chris said before laughing out loud. A little further, Jonas had vaguely heard his name and recognized the laughter and he had turned his head to see if there was anything he could understand from afar. As an answer, Chris winked at him while making her signature finger guns gesture.

 

“Chris and I were in high school together in Bergen, along with Jonas and a few others who are in this bar.” Eva explained.

 

Quickly the group of girls grew as Vilde, Noora’s friend from university, came closer and was introduced to the other girls. Eventually, everyone was talking enthusiastically to each other; it was as though they had always been friends with each other.

 

At the end of the night, Jonas closed the bar, but the group remained, the girls, but also, a group of boys who had been to the same high school as Eva. Noora and Vilde were the odd ones out of them all, but still, they fitted. They were engaged in conversations with all these people, not needing to solely rely on each other. After all, Vilde was very sociable and easy-going, she was in her element surrounded by people. Noora was much more silent, but still she had interesting and entertaining talks. Besides, she was glad the group had grown so that she didn’t have to interact too much with Eva, she didn’t know what to tell her. From time to time though, their eyes met across the room and they were just standing there, smiling at each other.

 

* * *

 

 

There was a knock on the door. Followed by several other ones that sounded urgent. Noora rolled in the bed, her half-opened eye fell on the alarm clock that was sitting on the bedside table: **7:43**. There was no way in hell she was going to be a functioning human being so early. She was determined. She still needed to sleep, and that’s what she was planning on getting for the next couple hours.

 

She and Chris, along with William, her bodyguard, had come back to her apartment from the bar barely five hours ago, after an amazing but tiring night, and Noora hadn’t managed to sleep for another two hours.

 

“Noora! I know you’re a light sleeper and you’re awake right now!” She heard Chris yell from the other side of the door. Her tone of voice was unusual, she was used to it sounding calm and humorous, not as if something was wrong. Worry arose in Noora’s mind and she groaned quietly, to indicate that Chris could come in. Which her manager didn’t hear, so a couple seconds later she heard “Okay, I don’t care, I’m coming in, please be presentable!”

 

She had probably been awake for barely ten minutes as her hair was a complete mess on top of her head; she had aimed for a bun, but had visibly given up on it halfway through. Also, she was wearing a bathrobe embroidered with the name of the last hotel they had stayed in on the chest. Noora’s room wasn’t that big, so in a couple of steps, Chris had reached the bed and was gently shaking Noora to get her to open her eyes and be responsive.

 

“C’mon, I need you to see something!” Her serious tone was still going strong and Noora still didn’t really like hearing it. It had as an effect to wake her up a bit more and she opened both her eyes and managed to get herself in a sitting position, still wrapped in her blanket, but facing Chris who, being small, was almost as tall standing up as Noora was, sitting. She prevented her usual grin from appearing on her face as she sensed that her manager was tense.

 

“What’s happening?”

 

“I’ve received a message from the label asking to clear up your relationship status…”

 

“Uh!?”

 

“An article has been released this morning about you, and it raised a couple of questions, but also some strategies to use it to our advantage…”

 

As she said these words, she handed her phone to Noora. A tab was opened on said-article. It only took the first few words for Noora to roll her eyes so hard she almost got to see the insides of her skull. The beginning was just a summary of the event, how she was back in her Norwegian hometown, in this not really popular bar after having toured all around Europe. The article was punctuated every two sentences by unpleasantly familiar “I can reveal”s. It then switched to talking about how Noora had been seen in company of a young lady who she had, reportedly, claimed was her girlfriend. There was even a blurry picture of her and Eva (awkwardly) standing in front of each other from behind a visibly dirty window. The article kept on speculating about how long they had been together, if it was serious or if the girl was just using Noora’s fame for whatever reason the “journalist” tried to make up.

 

Noora sighed, gave Chris her phone back and cleared her throat: “Of course it’s not true. I can deny it pretty easily… I can just tell the truth on social media, that I was just helping a childhood friend escape from a guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer… And boom, done.”

 

“Yes, I know, I told them that. But they have another idea… They think if you pretend to be in a relationship with Eva for a little bit of time, you can get a breakup album out and they’ve almost guaranteed a collaboration with Taylor Swift, you know how she likes breakup material stuff…”

 

“But I don’t want that??”

 

“Again, I know, but it could be a good push for your career, they told me they’re in talks to get you to be her opening act on her next tour… This could be very good for you career-wise. It’s just a harmless stunt that you’d need to keep up until the Brits Awards…”

 

“We don’t even know if I’m even nominated for these and anyway, that’s like? More than a month away? I can’t pretend to date Eva for that long!”

 

“Why not? I’m sure she’ll be happy to help and it won’t be too much, just some pap walks, some posts on social media and that’s it. Oh that reminds me, I have to call Sana.”

 

“Why do you have too? I don’t have big events until, well, the Brits if I’m lucky…”

 

“Do you think I’m going to let you go out on pap walks without the opinion of your stylist? I know you have good tastes, but she needs to be here too, for brands and stuff I don’t understand.”

 

“I haven’t agreed yet…”

 

“But you’re not opposed to it, right?”

 

“I guess not…” A strand of hair was nervously twirled around her finger. “We still need Eva to agree to this.”

 

“Of course. If she says no, we obviously immediately drop the idea! You need to be on the same page!”

 

Noora paused, thinking for a bit, before saying hesitantly: “Do you know if she… uh… If she is… not straight? I don’t want to make her uncomfortable if she is.”

 

“I have no idea. Back in high school she dated Jonas –“

 

“The bar guy?”

 

“Yup, the bar guy. They dated for a little while, then they broke up and didn’t get with anyone else afterwards. But she drunk-kissed girls at parties I remember, I don’t think she’d be uncomfortable, no worries.”

 

* * *

 

 

An hour later, they both – along with Noora’s bodyguard who was following her everywhere like her shadow – were at the door of Eva’s building. Chris had called Jonas who, surprisingly enough was up early and had been able to provide the information without asking any question. Not that the reason needed to be kept a secret from people close to the main “protagonist”, but it was always pleasant to be able to get a piece of information without needing to go in-depth about the why. Chris enjoyed being forward and having people around her who weren’t going to beat around the bush for hours on end.

 

Noora’s heart leapt as Chris pressed the doorbell corresponding to Eva’s and her flatmates’ names. Before arriving there, she had texted Vilde, her friend from university, and the first person she had ever come out to, arguably her closest friend. Vilde knew plenty of things about Noora, a lot no one else would ever know. Among them was the fact that she had been carrying a torch for one of her childhood friends for a long time and hadn’t been able to get over her and move on to someone else. Truth was, whenever she was singing about a girl in the songs of her album, apart from Vilde’s song, it was about her.

 

_To **Vilde** : remember when I told you I still had feelings for a childhood friend a couple of years ago? well, first: weirdly hasn’t gone away, second: it was Eva, the girl we saw last night, third: an article came out about us dating and fourth: my label would like me to do a publicity stunt and pretend to date her lmao. funny right? I mean she can still say no, which she probably will, which is good right? anyway, fun stuff_

 

Vilde hadn’t replied yet, she certainly had the luxury of having no one waking her up early in the morning, especially after a night out.

 

Noora’s phone was feeling like it weighted a ton in the pocket of her coat, because she really wanted to talk to her friend, to be able to confide in someone, she wanted her friend to be awake and to be on the other side of that phone, typing out what she needed to say, what she had to do. Noora didn’t know how to do these things. In spite of her faked confidence, she was pretty lost at the moment. She just couldn’t really let it be seen.

 

When she got out of her thoughts, she was entering Eva’s apartment, shoes off. It seemed much smaller than hers. After all, she now was a famous singer; she had a bit more money. She realized at that moment she hadn’t thought about asking Eva what she was doing for a living the night before, which would have been lesson 1 of the “catching up with people” course. But hey, their running into each other hadn’t been conventional either.

 

“Eva! A pop star, her manager and a dark tall handsome guy are here to see you!” The guy who had opened the door called. He looked at Noora and smiled at her with a smile she thought could compete with the brightness of the stars.

 

There was another boy behind him who seemed much more reserved and his eyes seemed to be caught on Chris, who was reciprocating the stare, making it flirtatious by clearly wiggling her eyebrows.

 

This kind of awkwardly quiet moment was interrupted by the quick footsteps that announced Eva’s arrival in the hallway seconds before she actually appeared. When she did, she looked like she had just fallen out of bed, her hair was all over the place and she was adjusting her oversized shirt.

 

“Sorry I was working, I didn’t hear the doorbell,” her voice was still raspy, as though she hadn’t talked to anyone yet this morning. “Okay so, Kasper, Mahdi, my flatmates, wait, you already know Mahdi from last night… Anyway, Kasper, you probably know Noora, by name at least, and this is Chris her manager and a friend, and William, her bodyguard… Thanks again for last night, for being your intimidating self and making Schistad go away!” He nodded slightly with what could probably be interpreted as a smile on his lips. She reported her attention towards Noora and Chris, making eye contact for a millisecond with the former and asking the latter: “what’s up?”

 

“Speaking of that guy you mentioned, can we talk?” Chris asked, with her professional voice.

 

Eva frowned, but replied quickly: “Sure, let’s go to my room.”

 

As they were following her, Chris made sure to throw one last seductive look towards the Kasper guy who just kept on looking stunned. It was the Chris effect. Noora had learned to recognize it through the time she’d spent with her manager.

 

Eva quickly stepped into her room to try and tidy the mess that was lying around as fast as she could, but it turned out she couldn’t do a lot of cleaning in five seconds. She resigned herself and apologized for the mess. Her desk was far from being available for anything, so she indicated her bed for Chris to sit and talk.

 

Noora had decided she’d let Chris do the talking, too awkward to ask herself. It wasn’t exactly the same as asking Eva out, but it felt way too similar. Instead of paying attention to Chris’s explanations she had heard earlier, Noora walked a bit around the room to reach the messy desk. It was covered in drawings, drawing everywhere of everything, something that looked like a comic, but also random doodles, of people, of things, silhouettes. They were very diverse and very fascinating, in a very particular style that Noora wouldn’t have expected Eva to have. As she was standing there, looking down on these drawings, she remembered back when they were in school together, Eva would give her funny doodles in class and she would try not to laugh out loud.

 

“Are you a professional drawer?” Noora asked, unaware that she was interrupting the conversation the two girls were having.

 

But still, Eva replied right away: “Not really, I wish, I’m trying to finish a comic to submit it to publishers afterwards… Until then, I do commissions on the Internet, hence all the different doodles you can see…” She got back into the conversation she was having with Chris: “I can’t believe this bullshit article… I mean, coming from that guy, I’m not surprised… but still!”

 

Noora felt her phone vibrate in her pocket; she grabbed it and saw she had gotten a reply from Vilde.

 

_From **Vilde** : What?? OMG!! You couldn’t have told me last night?? Does she know?? She needs to know!! And she needs to agree to this! You’d be so cute together and she’d inevitably fall in love with you too aaahhh!!!_

 

Noora shook her head, wishing Vilde were right here so that she could witness her eye roll, but she was grateful she wasn’t, as she couldn’t control her slight blushing.

 

Next to her, silence had fallen. Chris had reached the end of the “story”, the end of the “offer”, however this was called. Suddenly, Noora’s chest was aching again, in anticipation of the answer Eva was going to give. She couldn’t turn to look at her, she focused her attention on the drawings, the features of the characters she was bringing to life with a few strokes of a pen.

 

“I mean, if it helps you, I don’t mind doing this, the Brits aren’t that far away, right?”

 

“Exactly, it’s at the very end of February this year. So it’d just be until then, Noora will show up –“

 

“If she’s even nominated.” Noora mumbled.

 

“Noora will show up alone, there will be speculations, people will praise her for being strong and holding on, until boom, breakup album, collaboration and opening act on tour. In the meantime, I’ll get you in touch with a publishing house so you can get contracts ready for your comic and more, once you’ve finished it.”

 

“That’s great! Well, if it’s completely fine with Noora, then I’m in!”

 

This time, Noora turned to face Eva, who looked cheerful as if it wasn’t at all the beginning of something strange.

 

“It is, completely fine with me.” Noora heard herself reply, her smile mirroring Eva’s.

 

“Good, great, amazing, I’ll tell the label and I’ll keep you updated on what we plan exactly, the schedule and all. Also, for the pap walks, expect a visit from our stylist Sana Bakkoush, we’ll probably come along with her. So that’s settled! Also, can I get the phone number of your Kasper flatmate?” 

 

* * *

 

 

Later that day, and by “later”, it was actually in the middle of the night, Noora was turning and turning in her bed, unable to fall asleep, unable to stop her brain from thinking, over and over again about what she had agreed to do, and whom she had agreed to do it with. Even though she was glad things seemed to be surprisingly easy with Eva rather than awkward and weird after all these years spent apart, she still couldn’t really wrapped her head around it.

 

When she had gotten home earlier, she had spent over an hour on the phone with Vilde, telling her what had happened and listening to her friend’s most far-fetched ideas as to how she and Eva were going to inevitably fall in love because it was the most logical thing according to her. It just made sense. Such a pep talk had raised Noora’s hopes pretty high and she had to keep them low even if she really liked the sound of Vilde being right.

 

Aware that she wasn’t going to sleep for a little while longer considering how wide awake she still was, she grabbed her phone that was sitting patiently on her bedside table. The time indicated **2:02** and she had a text that had been sent a few minutes ago by an unknown number. It was just Eva telling her she had asked Chris for her number so that they could communicate, as newly girlfriends do. Noora smiled at the mention, then started typing a reply:

 

_To **Eva** : hey, I know you agreed to this whole thing, but I just want to make sure: are you really comfortable with people assuming you’re in a relationship with me, a girl you know…?_

 

She quickly hit send to not be able to take it back. It was awkward, she was definitely making it awkward, she needed sleep, but now she wasn’t sure she would be able to get it until she’d get a reply. Though, she wasn’t sure she wanted a reply either. It was a very strange reasoning, but somehow it made sense to her. Fortunately, she didn’t wait too long for an answer:

 

_From **Eva** : Yeah of course, I mean you’re kind of easy on the eye and I’m out to the people who know me, so no worries on that side of things_

 

Noora’s jaw dropped. Out? Did it mean what she believed it meant? Her mind was filled with question marks and some exclamation marks, though she settled for a simple message:

 

_To **Eva** : out?_

 

_From **Eva** : Oh yeah, well I guess not to all the people I know, oops_

 

The fact that they hadn’t seen each other in six years never really left Noora’s mind, but it still suddenly hit her that they had indeed not seen each other in _six years_ , and that, of course, she had missed things, and developments in Eva’s life, just as Eva had missed a lot in Noora’s life. And there was no way they could get these six years back. There was no other choice but to continue from this point, despite that long pause in their friendship. Which hopefully was only that: a pause. Now they were just pressing play again, and it was supposed to not have changed. Maybe the machine was a bit rusty, but it would quickly get back to working probably… Right?

 

_To **Eva** : you’re gay?_

 

_From **Eva** : Nope, I’m bi_

 

Noora had so many questions, she wanted to know how Eva had figured it out, if it was back in high school, before that, long after, whether it was recent or not…

 

For her, the realization had happened in high school when she was thinking back to the time when she had Eva in her life and how it had felt when suddenly she was no longer there, no longer in touch. It had taken a little while more to realize what these feelings meant, to name them and accept them fully. But now she was more comfortable than ever and she was wondering how it had gone for Eva… She noted in the back of her mind to ask sometime.

 

_To **Eva** : nice!!_

 

_From **Eva** : Aha yeah I know :D_

_From **Eva** : Waaaait, since you’re “”using”” me for your stunt, I can “use” you too and “use” “this” to remind people that bisexuality is a thing (you wouldn’t believe the amount of times I’ve had to pinch myself to see if I’m a real person!)… I gotta find myself a bi flag badge or something to wear on our pap walks!_

 

Noora couldn’t help but find Eva’s enthusiasm cute. She didn’t know how other people’s fake dating and stunts were going, but she was really glad she had such a cool fake girlfriend, and that easiness they had between them was oh so reassuring.

_To **Eva** : yeah sure, use me however you like, especially for good causes like this! I just don’t know if this is not going to kind of perpetuate stereotypes with our inevitable splitting up and you breaking my heart and all, you know…?_

 

_From **Eva** : Guess we’re gonna have to not break up :/ you’re stuck with me_

 

This was a really nice thought; Noora caught herself wishing for it to end up being the outcome of that stunt. Damn, Vilde had definitely rubbed off on her and she was seeing signs she would’ve rather not seen. No need to raise her expectations and hopes.

 

Noora and Eva’s conversation continued on that same light tone for a little longer until they eventually said good night, agreeing to see each other the next day to do some more catching up.

 

* * *

 

The next few days, they spent together, going back and forth between each other’s apartments. They made their relationship official, at least on social media, by simply discreetly interacting with each other, liking each other’s pictures, appearing quickly on each other’s snapchats, hanging out and laughing… Noora even liked a tweet talking about how gorgeous Eva was and how people wished them both to have a happy and lasting relationship. The genuine kindness of Noora’s fans also hit Eva’s social media pretty quickly as her follower counts skyrocketed within a day, and she got to read some pretty nice comment about herself. Of course, nothing being completely perfect, she did receive some hate, and messages from people calling her fame hungry and threatening her. However, this kind of response was fortunately far from being the majority, and she didn’t intend to let it bother her one bit. She knew who she was and so did the people who knew her, so she wasn’t going to let anyone else’s words affect her.

 

They were lazily lying next to each other on the couch. They were gradually growing more comfortable with each other again, not just to be able to accurately sell it when they were going to go out together, but also because it felt natural. Their arms were linked together; Eva’s head was resting on Noora’s shoulder as they were facing the television, watching the Brits nomination show. Noora was keeping her cool, but both Chris and Eva had insisted multiple times that her nomination was more than certain to happen. If it did happen though, she wasn’t sure she deserved it.

 

The ongoing performance ended and the presenter came back on the stage, where she had already announced the nominees to several categories. With her serious look, she stared at the camera and after another moment of silence, she said: “The nominees for international female solo artist are: Beyoncé, Christine and the Queens, Nora … Sater, Rihanna and Solange.”

 

Noora heard Chris suddenly bursting out laughing and giggling, while Eva was clearly excited, turning her head towards Noora with a huge smile on her face.

 

“Okay, she butchered your name, she really did… But, did you expect anything else coming from anyone not Norwegian? That’s a reminder for you to stay humble, you may be famous and nominated for a Brit award now, but people still don’t know how to pronounce your name!” Eva teased, nudging Noora.

 

Noora smiled back, she couldn’t believe what was happening. Especially, the names alongside of which she was nominated. She was just a twenty-two year old Norwegian singer who had been lucky enough to be filmed once and had then become who she was now. It was truly unbelievable.

 

There was obviously another factor that made her stay still, in silence, a bit shocked. It was the knowledge that yes, she was going to the Brits, and by then, the thing she and Eva had going was supposed to be over. And that, was also a bit scary.

 

* * *

 

 

“Are you ready? This is it. This is happening. There’ll be paparazzi waiting for you next to the exit of the airport. Remember to not let go of each other.”

 

They had just landed in London, where they would be staying for the next few weeks, not only to be somewhere with more flexible paparazzi laws – even though they were nothing compared to the ones in the United States – but also because Noora had to attend some talk shows and she had to start going back to the studio. She had a couple of songs written and she needed to be fast to be able to get an album out fairly quickly after the whole… thing.

 

They were walking out of the plane, Chris giving out a last minute pep talk to the two girls, while Sana was rearranging their hair and clothes that had gotten a bit crumpled because of the flight. She also added the finishing touches to their make up.

 

A few minutes later, they had gone through immigration, had waited for their luggage and it was the time to get out. Noora softly grabbed Eva’s hand and squeezed it while looking at her with a comforting smile that the other girl immediately reciprocated. It was just a bad moment to go through. The camera flashes and the paparazzi, not their handholding.

 

They had rehearsed it. They had seen too many pictures of “couples” looking really awkward while holding hands that they had decided to practice beforehand. And it turned out they didn’t need that much practice as they were completely comfortable with each other and their hands fitted perfectly in one another on their first try. As though they were always meant to be linked. The touch they had added to the sole handholding though, was the intertwining fingers, which they had both agreed sold their relationship even more. They had spent a day trying out their handholding and from this point onwards, every time they had seen each other, they had absent-mindedly played with each other’s fingers.

 

There was something so comforting to Noora about holding Eva’s hand. Every time she had been papped before, she had always been alone, or just in the company of some other people, but she hadn’t had the physical contact to ground her and remind her to keep going forward under the flashes. However, this time, she had Eva, and Eva had her. They were together in this. And as they made their way towards the car that was waiting for them, their grip kept getting stronger, search for comfort and reassurance in each other’s presence.

 

They finally reached the car and as they entered it, both their hearts were beating way too hard.

 

“Wow, that was… something.” Eva whispered faintly, as if she had been holding her breath up until that moment.

 

“Yeah, I’m sorry, this was intense.” Noora replied, stroking Eva’s hand with her thumb.

 

* * *

 

“Ah, why can’t I do this?! God I’m so stuck UGH!”

 

Noora heard the sound of a pen being thrown against the wall nearby out of frustration, it was not the first one and she suspected it wasn’t going to be the last one. She put her own pen down and pushed aside her guitar, after all, she was also stuck. Stuck on that song she was trying to write, but she couldn’t get the words to mean what she wanted them to mean, if that made sense… See? It was just a jumble of words put together that couldn’t get the nice ring to them she wanted.

 

She turned around from the chair and the desk of the hotel room that were both facing the wall. Part of her was convinced the orientation of that desk towards nothing was partly to blame for her being hopelessly stuck. She believed if it had been placed in front of the window, maybe it would have had another outcome… Or maybe that was just her interior designer of a mom’s voice that was talking in her head. Even though she hadn’t seen a member of her family in years, she could still easily guess what they would say in this or that situation. Anyway.

 

She turned to see Eva push away her sketchbook with a groan and just lie on the bed, burying her face in the blanket. Her feet, which up until now had been swinging in the air, hit the headboard and then she let them rest on it. Though the situation was very understandable and Noora deeply felt Eva’s frustration, as she was experiencing the same thing herself, she couldn’t help but feel endeared.

 

“Stop looking at me, Noora Sætre, get back to writing your next platinum single or however it’s called, no need for us both to be stuuuuuck!” Eva said, with her muffled and tired voice.

 

“Are you kidding? I’ve been stuck for an hour, I was just waiting for you to crack first.”

 

These words had as an effect to have Eva suddenly raise her head. She stared at Noora, squinting her eyes and raising her eyebrow, acting offended: “And the hundred other thrown pens weren’t already good indications that I was cracking? I mean look at all of them!” She dramatically gestured towards the wall, which was partly a window as well. All along the bottom of it, there were several pens that had been thrown, one by one, over the course of the past hour.

 

“Okay, that’s a good point, you’ve got there!” Noora smiled.

 

“Anyway, what’s up with you, you’re a professional and you have a pretty nice way with words, otherwise you wouldn’t be where you are today…”

 

“Hey, that doesn’t mean I don’t ever get stuck. I mean, I struggle too. I pretty much have trouble finishing every single time I write a new song or do anything for that matter… It’s just so final and you have to be certain you wrote everything you wanted to write. Yes, there is still the possibility to write another one, that’s true. But sometimes, the words just fit that particular melody and it’s so tempting to cram everything into it, but that’s not how it works. I like an unfinished song because it leaves room for possibilities and changes, and the thought of it ending is kind of strange and scary. To find yourself with nothing, suddenly… And also, sometimes it’s just so hard to get the words to say exactly what you want them to mean, like? I don’t know…”

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch.”

 

“What?”

 

“I mean, that just kind of reminded me… Unfinished song… That was sort of us and I abruptly finished it not leaving the possibility for modification or changes. And I’m sorry.”

 

Suddenly, there was a silence. A rather heavy silence, during which Eva just kind of looked away, which through the time they had spent together Noora hadn’t seen her do often, or at all. Noora was surprised; after a couple of days, weeks, spent with Eva, she had stopped expecting any acknowledgement of these six years apart. It had been as if nothing had happened, as if there was a tacit agreement that they ignored this part of their relationship.

 

The silence was broken. Not by any of them. I was abruptly ended by a piercing notification sound that came from Noora’s phone.

 

“Dammit, I thought I had switched it off…” She whispered, before seeing what the notification said and gasping.

 

She grabbed her phone, unlocked it and kept looking at it as if some sort of spiritual realization, or whatever had touched her. Eva had raised her head again, and she was frowning, the awkwardness of the previous moment gone and her curiosity awakened.

 

“What is it?”

 

Noora cleared her throat and looked straight into Eva’s eyes, her eyelids flickering: “Mh, nothing… Just… Louis Tomlinson from One Direction sliding into my DMs on twitter, saying he’s heard my interview with Nick Grimshaw the other day and asking me if he wants me to drop by the studio one of these days?”

 

As a response, Eva started choking, so bad she had to get up and quickly go get herself a glass of water. After a minute, she leaned on the wall, her glass in her hands and they made eye-contact in silence, until Noora just started laughing, followed right away by Eva.

 

“I can’t believe this is my life!”

  

* * *

 

 

They were not laughing anymore when, a few days later, a week before the night of the Brits, they first entered the studio and found themselves facing the entire five-piece band. It took only a second for the band to reassure them and make them feel comfortable, as they started talking about song ideas with Noora right away. It was mostly a chat, (which might sound unrealistic, who uses a studio to just chat, right?) however, they sometimes broke into songs and ideas and brainstorming for possible collaborations at some point. Who knew? The band enjoyed Noora’s music and Noora absolutely adored the band and would have followed them through any kind of music, any kind of trouble, anything really.

 

Eva’s feelings towards the band were just as strong, except she was merely a watcher, a spectator of the musical energy that was emerging from this circle of artists who were sitting with not a bother in the world: Niall stroking is guitar, Louis and Harry, the former basically sitting between the latter’s legs, both practicing their harmonies in a silly way, and Zayn and Liam breaking into improvisations and beatboxing. And Noora, at first shyly taking notes, and then settling in the comfortable and friendly warmth they created around them wherever they were.

 

She and Chris were a bit in the background, letting the musicians and singers talk and create with each other. Chris was focused on some paperwork Eva didn’t even want to try to understand. She had her phone in her hands, writing down every single idea she had for her next comic, because yes, by the way, she had managed to finish the first one. It was all done. It was scary, but it was done. She was going to have to put it out there and show it to a publisher, it was no longer going to be her thing. To avoid thinking about it, she was determined to get ideas for the next thing. She wanted to keep creating. She wanted it so badly. However, at that moment, she was rather distracted, not only by the fact that all five members of her favorite band were sitting meters away from her, but also by the simple fact that if she turned her head, she could see Noora’s profile, which looked stunning. Well, if you asked her, all of Noora was stunning, and she couldn’t believe she was the one getting to hold her hand and call her, her girlfriend. Not for real. Of course.

 

But the truth was that holding Noora’s hands, running her hands through Noora’s hair and being the first witness to Noora’s smiles were some of the things she wanted to do all the time, and more than in a friendly, platonically way. But that wasn’t what she had literally signed up for. They had appeared all loved up publicly, resting their heads on each other’s shoulders, looking properly in love, she had sent out some of the cheesiest things on social media, and when asked about her love life on talk shows, Noora had blushed and stated that she was extremely happy. They could have been nominated for an Oscar, and, or, an Amanda Award. Whichever. They would have deserved to win them considering their brilliant acting.

 

“Did Kasper say anything to you?”

 

Chris who had suddenly pushed aside the papers she had been working on cut Eva’s thoughts and new-found dreams of an acting career short, maybe she was done with them, or maybe she just really needed a break. Both options were highly realistic.

 

“Not really, he’s rather quiet, we barely talk when we are at the apartment together, so when one of us is away… You know…” She shrugged. “How do you feel your flirting is going though? By now you probably know more about him than I do!”

 

“I most definitely do, yep! It’s going pretty well!”

 

“God I really don’t want to know! But I’m very happy things are working out for you and him.”

 

“Yeah, it’s really nice, I actually can’t wait to go back to Norway once the Brits are over!”

 

Any mention of the Brits ending, or even just the thought of it actually happening was a sting (the noun, not the singer) in Eva’s chest. She tried to laugh it off, but it wouldn’t work. She didn’t like it at all. Chris seemed to pick up on that as she said quietly:

 

“Nothing stops you from seeing each other after the Brits you know, it’s not like you’re going to lose what you’ve gotten back since the beginning of all this!”

 

Eva felt her throat tighten and her breath become scarce. Fortunately, that sensation went away when her train of thoughts was interrupted by the clear and joyful laughter of Noora that was accompanied by the boys’. For a second, it was the most beautiful music she had ever heard, even better than any collaboration between the six of them could ever be, and definitely far better that one with Taylor Swift. God, she still had trouble believing this whole thing, this whole them pretending, was solely to get a career-push by working with that singer Eva knew Noora didn’t like that much, not only as a performer, but also as a person…

 

She leaned over the table towards Chris and whispered: “What if we… I mean you, asked One Direction for the collaboration and the first part, she gets on well with them and they seem to like her as well. Look at them! She’d never have the same vibe with Taylor Swift, no matter how great her acting talents are!”

 

“This isn’t how it works Eva… But I’ll be honest with you; there are actually talks that are happening to be able to do something of that sort… I can’t really tell you more, but yes, just know that it’s a possibility. You wouldn’t have to break up for her to release a sad breakup album…”

 

As Chris winked, Eva instinctively opened her mouth, was she really that obvious? Her cheeks had gotten red, but she chose to ignore that last part and she just gave a thumb up to Chris, before pretending to go back to thinking about comic ideas, even though she couldn’t focus.

 

* * *

 

_From **Jonas** : You need to tell her! Come on! Do!! It!! It literally ends tomorrow! You have nothing to lose! Are you really going to let what happened when you left secondary school happen again? You told me you knew you like girls back then, because of her, now you have to tell her! Let me hop on a plane and tell you this face to face! Please you have nothing to lose! If it goes badly, you won’t have to see her again and it’ll be okay! Come!! On!!_

 

Eva had been reading this message over and over again ever since she had received it a couple of hours ago. She had turned to Jonas, her ex-boyfriend yes, but mostly her best friend. Their breakup had been fairly friendly as they were on the same page about their relationship, and they had managed to remain close ever since, without benefits of any kind, they were just pals. Jonas had a very attentive ear and was easy to talk to. That’s why she had turned to him for any relationship drama, and he had listened and advised as well as he could, he really had. And his advice were always rather good, or if they weren’t, he could give pep talks like no one else.

 

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, her glittering snapback wasn’t straight on her head anymore, but neither was she, so she felt good about leaving it that way. Her matte lipstick had smudged a bit because of the few glasses she had had. She didn’t have her purse with her to reapply it properly, so she decided to just wipe it completely with a humidified piece of paper. It didn’t go as well as she had hoped, but did she really care? Not really. It would do the trick. She heard knocks on the door:

 

“Are you okay Eva? Do you need me to come in?”

 

The voice was a bit drowned in the loud sound of the music and the noise of the people speaking and singing. But still, Eva knew who it belonged to. Not only because there was only one person who would follow her to the bathroom and ask if there was anyway she could help, but also because, she was able to recognize the voice in the most noisy of places. And that club was definitely one of the noisiest Eva had ever been to.

 

It was the night before the Brits Awards, it was the last night before the speculations of their breakup were supposed to arise. They had planned to leave the club looking cold and maybe a bit upset. The making of that decision had been one of the most awkward they had had. Up until then, they had managed without any problem or weirdness to plan their pap walks, their holding hands, and their looking more in love than the most in-love couple they could think of. This hadn’t been one of these times. This time it had just been a long silence, cut by shy suggestions from Noora, which Eva responded to with quiet nods of approval. Chris had been in the room as well, encouraging the communication, but not interfering too much. All three of them had had a rather strange time in that hotel room.

 

They were at a party in a select club in the center of London, the boys of One Direction had invited them and they were spending the night chatting in a corner and dancing. Harry was the master of the dance floor and Louis had very generic and bad dance moves that Eva adored and enjoyed mockingly copying. Which, didn’t fail to make Liam start slapping his knee in laughter. She couldn’t believe how accessible and genuinely kind these boys were. Even in her wildest dreams, she couldn’t have imagined befriending them, but suddenly, it was a possibility that had appeared and didn’t seem as far-fetched as it sounded.

 

“No it’s okay, I’m okay! I’m coming back in a second!”

 

She had had several drinks, maybe a bit too much, and too fast, and she had certainly felt as though she was on a pitching boat at some point. That’s why she had rushed to the bathroom, but she was all-good, just having trouble standing and walking straight, but that wasn’t too bad. She took a deep breath, looking one last time at the mirror before reaching for the lock of the door then the doorknob and she got out.

 

Noora was leaning against the wall, her attention focused on her phone, her fingers typing quickly, her head down, her face partly hidden behind her blond hair.

 

“Your secret girlfriend?” Eva asked, which she immediately regretted because she sounded so bitter and petty. Luckily though, Noora replied in her casual sober way:

 

“Nope. I’m not texting you am I? It’s one of my former flatmates, he wants to know if he can crash at my apartment for a bit when he comes back to Oslo in a couple of weeks… And I don’t even know where I’ll be then…” She paused for a second, the constant uncertainty that came with the job was one of the reason she appreciated it so much, but she also liked to know things in advance. These were conflicting feelings she tried to somehow reconcile. “Anyway… you want to get out of here?”

 

It was getting late, or rather, early in the morning, and the party was dying out. Some of the One Direction boys had started to leave, and the remaining ones were on their way out. Facing the silence that was coming from Eva, and taking it as a yes, Noora started to walk away.

 

“I love you.”

 

“What?” Noora turned back around to look at Eva who hadn’t moved and was looking at her in the eyes. That was the most eye contact they had made since the beginning of the day

 

“You heard me, I do and I have for years. And I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch. I was figuring it out and I was anxious and then I felt like it was too late, and I regretted it so much. I’m sorry.”

 

Alcohol was making her own words jumble and she felt as if she didn’t have any control over what she was saying.

 

“You’re drunk…” Noora sounded disappointed.

 

“I know. I am. But I mean it.”

 

The doubt was written all over Noora’s hurt face. In the blurriness, Eva saw her turn away, making a gesture as to call someone. A few seconds later, William was coming to help her make it out of the club. Their exit that had initially been planned out to be through the main door to be able to get paparazzi pictures ended up being through the back door, which was a relief because none of them was well-in-shape enough to be blinded by flashes at that moment. 

 

* * *

 

 

“We’re now here on the red carpet at the Brits Awards with international female solo artist nominee, Nora Sater. First of all, congratulations on your first Brits nomination for your very first album, how are you feeling tonight?”

 

Noora remained imperturbable through the hundredth butchering of her name ever since she had reached the English soil. Well, ever since her career had become international, to be honest (that is to say, since the beginning of her career, only Scandinavians and people from other Nordic countries had managed to get it right). She wasn’t even annoyed anymore; she was used to it and actually found it funny by now. Especially after she had been on Nick Grimshaw’s radio show. He had insisted on getting it right for the first time on air. So before starting, while a song was playing on the background, she had trained him, showed him how to not mess up and even though his mouth was twitching back to the English pronunciation from time to time, he still managed to say it right, to his greatest pleasure.

 

“I am incredibly pleased and honored to be here. I remember being a teenager and watching the show on the Internet and seeing all these artists I admire. It’s truly amazing that I get to be a part of it.”

 

It seemed like a dream, an amazing dream, which she never wanted to wake up from. She was surrounded by people who looked oh so very good! Many women had dresses that seemed to be straight out of a fairy tale book. Noora was in absolute awe. She had feared she would look odd with her navy blue shirt tucked into her trousers, but so far, several people had interrupted her interview to point out how cute she looked. She was grateful Sana had put this outfit together, knowing that was exactly how she would feel the most comfortable and be the most herself. She also had her unforgettable signature red lipstick that gave her the confidence she needed.

 

“After your self-titled first album which was a huge, and well-deserved, success, what can we expect from you?”

 

“I don’t think I can tell you much, but I’ve been writing a lot lately.”

 

“Are there any collaborations planned?”

 

“There’s not much I can say, but yes definitely.” She looked at Chris who was standing nearby. She saw her nod slightly with a smile. “Actually, I can say I’m working with some of my favorite people, they’re five and are a pretty successful band. I’m very happy I get to do that.”

 

The talks with One Direction’s management had come to a successful conclusion, mostly because the band had had their say and had pushed for the collaboration with Noora to be approved. And so, along with this deal, came the end of the talks that were still happening with Taylor Swift’s side which were taking an awful amount of time. Which meant, Noora and Eva didn’t have to break up, not right away at least, they could still ease into it, in order to make it seem realistic, blaming it on the distance and all…

 

“I have to ask… You’ve been pictured along with a young woman for some time now, who you’ve stated on social media was your girlfriend, yet you’re alone tonight…?”

 

“I’m not that alone, I have my manager who is like family to me. But yes, she’s not here tonight because she had to go back to Norway for an appointment tomorrow with a publishing house for the comic she wrote, which is amazing. I was lucky she stayed in London with me for as long as she could, but she had to go back and she would’ve missed her flight by a few minutes if she had come here then to the airport.”

 

She realized she had gone in details, but it was merely the truth. She had witnessed Eva’s enthusiasm for her comic, which dealt with the lives of teenagers in Oslo, and it had rubbed off on her. However, what she hadn’t said was that she had no idea where she and Eva were. Relationship-wise. They hadn’t talked one-on-one since the night before. She had gotten all the details of her flight from Chris who had been the one booking it for a deeply hangovered Eva.

 

“I’m sure she’ll be watching the show until her plane takes off. Thank you so much Nora. Good luck for your performance tonight!”

 

“Thank you!”

 

Some time later, the show started. One Direction opened it by performing their latest single entitled “Home”. It was also nominated for British Single of the Year and for British Video. Noora had no doubt the song would win both. Especially the British Video of the Year, not only because it was fan-voted thus virtually guaranteeing the win was theirs, but also because it was such a beautiful video, incredibly diverse and supportive, dedicated to the LGBTQ community some of the boys were publicly a part of, and all of them strong allies of.

 

Their performance ended and Noora’s hands started hurting from applauding too much, but she didn’t care, she had loved it, she loved them, she was going to work with them and she was so proud.

 

Awards were handed, performances were, well, performed. Until it was her turn. She was going on stage with the song she had been stuck on. She had had the music, the second verse and the chorus for a while, but she was stuck on how to begin the song, how to make it a good beginning. She had figured it out during the day and had been rehearsing it ever since.

 

She reached the center of the stage under the applause. From where she stood, she could see the One Direction table being dramatically proud, if that meant anything. They were clapping hard, wiping away fake tears and mouthing at each other “that’s my daughter up there”. The lights faded away and they stopped, showing a supportive smile to Noora who smiled back and started to sing.

_She told me that she loved me, ‘m not sure she remembers_

_The roof was pretty windy and I didn't say a word_

_Party dying downstairs, had nothing left to do_

_Just me, her and the moon_

 

Noora was definitely hoping Eva was watching. And even if she wasn’t, she was so proud of herself for having finally finished the song and not feeling bad about it ending. Mostly because, even though it was ending, it could still be the beginning of so many other things.

 

When she got off-stage under thunderous applause, before getting back to her own table with Chris and a few strangers, she jokingly blew a kiss to One Direction, which Harry and Louis pretended to fight for before agreeing to give it to Niall, who then celebrated with a little Irish dance only he could master so well. She couldn’t wait to spend more time creating with these children who she knew still managed to be serious when it was needed.

 

As she was reaching her table, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Perks of wearing trousers. (And also of having completely forgotten to leave her phone with Chris before going on stage.)

 

_From **Eva** : I remember. And I meant everything._

_From **Eva** : You’re the one that I want at the end the day_

 

Her heart jumped and kept on beating so hard she thought it was about to literally carve a hole in her chest, no exaggeration whatsoever. She sat down and leaned towards Chris:

 

“Do you think I can leave? If I leave now, I can make it to the airport before Eva’s plane takes off?”

 

“Oh Noora, honey, you don’t really know London do you? You can certainly try… Her plane doesn’t leave for another hour and a half… As for leaving, I guess you can go. Though, you risk looking like a sore loser when Beyoncé wins.”

 

“When?”

 

“You didn’t actually think you could win against Beyoncé did you?”

 

“No! Never in a million years, but I thought you believed I could??”

 

“I love you, I’m proud of you and I believe in you but come on.” She winked.

 

Noora agreed to stay until the results of her category so she could hear Nick Grimshaw, who was presenting it, pronounce the nominees’ name, and especially hers, flawlessly. She gave him her thumbs up before he announced the winner was the obvious Beyoncé. She was glad she had waited up until now to see Beyoncé’s acceptance video, she was still so amazed by the fact that she had been competing in some way, with _her_.

 

As soon as this was over though, she rushed outside. She rushed so fast William had to ask her to slow down. Outside, it was raining cats and dogs… Sorry, it was actually a proper downpour. She was hurrying towards one of the cabs parked nearby when she heard her bodyguard say:

 

“Let me get our car!”

 

“We don’t have time for that Wilhelm!”

 

The journey on the cab was the longest hour and a half of Noora’s life. The traffic was terrible. The rain was getting heavier and thick fog was settling. Moreover, she was constantly checking her watch, which was really not helping her impatience at all. When they reached the airport, she knew Eva’s plane was supposed to have taken off. However, she felt to awkward to ask the cab driver to get them back where they were coming from after having spent such a long time in traffic. So they still got down at the airport.

 

The cab drove away and the rain drenched them in a matter of seconds, they rushed inside. There was a crowd of people, way more than usual, even though the usual was already a lot. Noora made her way through the people to look at the departure boards, which indicated that every flight were either cancelled or delayed. Her eyes looked eagerly for the flight to Oslo. It was the very first one on the list. DELAYED was written in bright red letters next to it. She gasped, tried to look if she could see the familiar face. When she felt a tap on her shoulder.

 

She turned around and there she was, with her usual beanie on her head, a bright smile on her lips.

 

“You got off the plane.”

 

“Well, technically, I was never _on_ the plane in the first place!”

 

“What about your appointment tomorrow?”

 

“It’s in the afternoon, and the plane is just delayed until tomorrow morning, the weather is supposed to be alright again.”

 

Noora went for a hug, she held on tight to Eva whose hands she felt grasped her waist to keep her as close as possible. They stayed this way for longer than average, even than _their_ average. (Their average that had consistently increased as they had grown comfortable in their fake girlfriends status.)

 

They slowly parted, foreheads remaining against each other. They smiled at each other, eyes glaring at the other’s lips, before simultaneously going in for a kiss. And it was everything they had ever thought it would be. It was soft and sweet, it was Noora’s lipstick smudging Eva’s lips. It was just the two of them, the world had stopped and they were alone in an empty airport hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!  
> I didn’t know where to indicate smoothly that in the fic the Brits take place on the 29th, because it’s a cool date ;);) so there, have that fact here.  
> Also, the two songs Noora sings at the beginning and at the end, are Alessia Cara's "Scars to Your Beautiful", and One Direction's "End of the Day"


End file.
